Roughly speaking, Siberia may be divided into three longitudinal belts: first, the tundra, which borders the Arctic Ocean and extends several hundred miles south of it; second, the forest belt, several hundred miles wide, which extends across the continent; third, the southern part, consisting of desert steppes, swamps, gra.s.sy plains, and a few broken forests.
The tundra is a vast lowland plain which in winter is a desolate, frozen waste, and in summer a vast swamp of lichens and arctic moss. Here nature is embalmed in eternal frost, and life is a terror-inspiring struggle with cold and hunger.
In spring, when the snow is gone and the ground begins to thaw, thousands of geese, ducks, swans, and other feathered creatures appear, enlivening the monotonous scene for a few months; then, when the sharp September frosts announce the approach of winter, with their tundra-reared progeny they wing their way southward, leaving the icy plains to the wandering fox and the arctic owl.
One writer speaks of the tundra as the very grave of nature, the sepulchre of the primeval world, because it is the tomb of so many animals whose remains have been protected from putrefaction for thousands of years. How interesting would it be could these animals be brought to life and be endowed with sufficient intelligence to relate the history of their age and generation!
The reindeer in the valley of the Lena spend the winter near the forests, but as the spring advances they migrate to the thousands of islands in the delta to escape the heat and mosquitoes farther south. To reach their destination they are obliged to swim across broad channels of water. The animals have special places for crossing, and on their return south the natives station themselves at these places and slaughter them in large numbers.
All the swamps and marshes throughout Siberia are the breeding places of innumerable mosquitoes, which in summer fly over the country in such dense clouds as to render life in certain sections almost unbearable.
Just north of Mongolia where the Yenisei River enters Russian territory is the wonderfully interesting fertile prairie region of Minusinsk.
Being well watered and sheltered on all sides by mountains, it is one of the most fertile spots in all Siberia. Here the disintegration of gold-bearing rocks has formed large mining fields which are profitably worked. In the vicinity are also valuable iron mines, which were opened early in the prehistoric period, and which are still worked.
[Ill.u.s.tration: Driving over the tundra in winter]
Because of its delightful climate and special attractions for the archaeologist, this charming section is called the "Italy of Siberia."
There have been obtained from the mounds found in this section many thousand relics relating to prehistoric man which exemplify his progress from the stone age through the bronze to the iron age. This fine collection of upward of sixty thousand different articles is housed in an imposing and substantial museum erected in the town of Minusinsk.
This building contains the richest collection of implements representing the bronze age in the world.
The forest belt is so immense that the wooded plains of the Amazon shrink into comparative insignificance. For the most part these great forests are composed of evergreen trees, the fir, pine, larch, and pitch-pine predominating. In many localities there are hundreds of square miles of perfectly straight pine trees of great height, where neither man nor beast could find the way out. Even experienced trappers dare not enter these forests without blazing trees along their pathway, so that they may be able to extricate themselves by retracing their steps. In these huge evergreen solitudes there is an inexhaustible supply of the finest timber in the world. In every sense of the word they are solitudes; for one may travel scores of miles without meeting or hearing either bird or beast.
At the conclusion of the war between j.a.pan and Russia it was stipulated that Russia should cede to j.a.pan the southern part of Sakhalin Island.
The cession was made in 1905. During the following two years a large number of Russians and j.a.panese were employed in marking the boundary, by cutting through the forest from east to west a strip one hundred miles long and twelve miles wide. The fir forests of the j.a.panese portion, covering more than three million acres, are alone estimated to be worth forty-five million dollars, to say nothing about the extensive coal deposits and the large areas of land available for tillage.
Of the native peoples of northern Siberia the Yakuts are the most numerous. They resemble both the Eskimos and the Lapps. They occupy several valleys, including that of the Lena River and a strip along the Arctic Ocean to the west. So inured to cold are these people, that where the temperature ranges from ninety degrees below zero to ninety-three degrees above, the adults wear light clothing in the depth of winter and the children sport naked in the snow.
The desert zone includes a vast region east of the Caspian Sea and extends to the Tian Shan Mountains, which separate it from the desert of Gobi. Here, as in the Mohave Desert, are found the leafless, thickly spined forms of the cactus family.
A product peculiar to Siberia and highly appreciated by the inhabitants on account of its edible qualities is the cedar nut found in all of the northern forest region. So great is the demand for these nuts that in Tomsk alone thousands of tons are sold each year. They resemble pine nuts. A gum called larch-tree sulphur, chewed by both natives and settlers, is also obtained from these forests. Bee-keeping, especially in eastern Siberia, is an important industry which has been followed from remotest ages. The annual yield of honey is estimated to be upward of three million pounds.
The camel is usually a.s.sociated with the hot desert regions of the Sahara and Arabia, yet in Siberia immense numbers of camels are used. It is not an uncommon sight to see them in midwinter hauling sledges along frozen roads and ice-covered rivers.
The richest gold fields are in the swamp and forest sections of central Siberia and in the Ural and Altai Mountains, although the metal is widely scattered all the way from the Ural Mountains to the Pacific. The word Altai means gold. The world"s supply of platinum virtually comes from the gold-mines of Siberia as a by-product. In many parts of the mining region, as in Alaska, the frozen ground must be thawed by fires before it can be worked.
The building of the Trans-Siberian Railroad has wrought a wonderful transformation in Siberia by giving a great impetus to agriculture and other kinds of business. This great achievement, begun in 1891, was practically completed in eleven years, at a cost of one hundred and seventy-five million dollars. Subsequent work, together with equipment, double tracking, and the building of additional lines, has doubled the first cost.
The eastern terminus of the main line is Vladivostock; a branch line across Manchuria reaches Port Arthur and Dalny, or Tairen, as it is now called. The continuous railway route from St. Petersburg to Port Arthur is five thousand six hundred and twenty miles, four thousand five hundred miles of which is in Siberia. The first rails used, proving too light for the tremendous traffic, were replaced with heavier ones, and the road-bed itself has been widened and strengthened.
The fare on the road is very reasonable. For long distances it ranges from about a cent per mile to less than half that rate, accordingly as one travels first, second, third, or fourth cla.s.s. Riding first cla.s.s one can secure sleeping accommodations equal to the best that one finds on the roads of the United States, and in addition one may have the luxury of a bath.
Since the completion of the road the government has done everything possible to attract Russian emigration from Europe in order to settle and develop the country. The consumer in Russia becomes a producer in Siberia. The number of Russian emigrants who have settled along the line during the past five years will average one hundred and fifty thousand annually.
To start the Russian farmers in these new regions the government gives each man of family a certain amount of money or an equivalent in stock and tools; and in addition loans him small amounts at a low rate of interest, to be repaid in five years, with a proviso that if there be bad crops the time will be extended. For the year 1908, nine million five hundred thousand dollars was set aside to a.s.sist the peasant farmers.
Following in the wake of the completion of the Trans-Siberian Railroad, additional steamers have been placed on all the large rivers to meet the growing demands of commerce. Hundreds of steamers ply upon the rivers during the open season, but no vessels attempt the route by way of the Arctic Ocean on account of the long distance and frequent ice obstructions.
[Ill.u.s.tration: Train on the steppes of Russia]
Dairying, now a most important industry of Siberia, was unknown before the advent of the great railway. To promote this industry, the government has already expended more than a million dollars. At all the princ.i.p.al places schools have been established in which the best methods of dairy-farming are taught. Fortunately, cattle diseases are practically unknown.
The fine quality of the gra.s.ses, together with the improved methods of manufacturing brought about by the creameries, causes Siberian b.u.t.ter to rank with the best products found in the European markets. The dairy products are shipped by rail to various parts of Europe, large quant.i.ties going to England and to Denmark, the home of dairying.
Sometimes three hundred tons of b.u.t.ter per week are shipped to Copenhagen and one thousand tons to London. Upward of eighty million pounds are annually exported, and it is said that by a little exertion fifteen times the amount could be easily produced. The industry is still only in its infancy.
In the Tobol and Ishim plains of western Siberia are the fertile black-earth regions covering twenty-five million acres. As yet, they are spa.r.s.ely settled, but they are capable of supporting half the population of Russia. Two-thirds of the inhabitants of Siberia are Russians, and in timbered regions probably one-half live in log houses, for these are capable of being made the most comfortable dwellings in the world.
Many exaggerated statements have appeared, both in England and America, concerning the exile system. This, happily, is now abolished, as also have been the cruelties practised by those in charge. That there have been great abuses no one denies, but the conditions of the prisons can be paralleled both in England and the United States. No more common criminals are sent to Siberia.
Transportation is now limited chiefly to escaped convicts and to political and religious criminals, most of whom are sent to the island of Sakhalin. Capital punishment, except in cases of attacks on the royal family and condemnation by courts-martial, was abolished many years ago.
Lake Baikal is one of the most remarkable lakes in the world. It is four hundred miles long and from twenty to sixty miles wide. The lake is very deep, and, although situated in the temperate zone, is the home of a species of arctic seal and tropical coral. This species of seal is found nowhere in Asian waters outside of the Arctic Ocean, except in this lake and the Caspian Sea. Immense quant.i.ties of salmon of different species abound in the lake, and give rise to important fishing industries.
In winter the lake is covered with ice seven feet thick. Crossing is made by huge ice-breaking ferryboats capable of carrying thirty cars and one thousand men, yet only during a part of the winter is the boat able to navigate, so persistent is the extreme cold. The railway now extends around the southern part of the lake, and crossing by ferryboats is not attempted when the ice is thick.
Asiatic Russia includes Transcaucasia, which was permanently annexed to the Russian Empire in 1801. This great Asiatic domain contains more than six million square miles, or about twice the size of the United States, including Alaska.
Notwithstanding the millions of square miles of arid deserts, irredeemable swamps, frozen tundra, and impenetrable forests, the agricultural and mineral resources of Siberia are almost beyond computation.
CHAPTER VIII
THE MYSTIC HIGHLANDS OF ASIA
The statement that "one half the world does not know how the other half lives, nor how it is influenced," applies with double force to the peoples living on the high plateau of Tibet beyond the t.i.tanic Himalayas. Here is a vast region only one-twentieth of which is covered with vegetation. Chains of mountains with snow-capped peaks encircle it, and spurs from the main ranges, together with lesser ridges and isolated elevations, diversify its surface.
Amidst these desolate wastes are fertile valleys which are capable of producing excellent crops; in many other sections good crops are produced by very primitive methods of irrigation. As a whole the plateau may be cla.s.sed among the infertile regions of the earth.
On account of its great elevation, Tibet is often called the roof of the world. Starting from its borders several large rivers break through its rocky ramparts, among them the Indus, Brahmaputra, Irawadi, and Hoang.
Some of the plains of the great plateau range from fifteen to eighteen thousand feet above sea level. Scattered over these are single lakes and chains of lakes, many of which are salt. These vast areas, storm-swept in winter and baked by heat in summer, are frequented by bandits and nomads. They live in tents made of the almost black hair of the yak, and move from place to place with their flocks and herds to seek food for their animals. The stable population resides chiefly in the few cities and villages.
For nearly a thousand years a veil of religious mystery has shrouded this section of the world; and the sacred city of Lasa with its holy places has been doubly guarded against the visits of foreigners.
This mysterious land has been able to maintain its position of isolated seclusion because of the high mountain barriers that are ma.s.sed in a series of gigantic walls on all sides. It is approachable only through narrow pa.s.ses that are constantly guarded.
Our knowledge of the "forbidden land," as it is called, has been obtained chiefly from adventurers who have travelled through it in disguise, and from a few others who took more desperate chances by forcing their way in. Among these may be mentioned Bower, Thorald, the Littledales, Rockhill, Captain Deasy, Sven Hedin, and Walter Savage Landor. Landor was taken prisoner by the Tibetans and suffered at their hands horrible tortures, from the effects of which he will never recover.
[Ill.u.s.tration: Dunkar Spiti, Himalaya Mountains, India]
Because the Tibetans for many years had insulted the government of India and had seized territory claimed by it, English troops under Colonel Younghusband were sent against the invaders in 1903, and after several severe battles reached the forbidden city of Lasa, where a forced treaty was negotiated and signed. But on the withdrawal of the English troops the policy of exclusion was immediately resumed. Russia to-day has much greater influence in Tibet than has England.
The present condition of Tibet resembles in many respects that of Europe during the Middle Ages. The country is under the suzerainty of China, which has a representative called an amaban and several thousand troops at Lasa to maintain its claim.
Though an extremely trying climate prevails on these highlands, the hermit-like, priest-ridden people know no better home and are contented with their lot. Of its three and one-half million inhabitants, one in seven belongs to the priestly cla.s.s called lamas.
At the head of this priesthood, as well as at the head of the state, are two leaders, the chief one, the Dalai Lama, or "ocean of learning," and the other the BoG.o.do Lama, or "precious teacher." With their subordinates, these two are supposed to have power not only over life and death, but over the reincarnation of the soul and entrance to the regions beyond rebirth.